Of Ulcer, Friends and Roses

Posted by YC

First things first. Thank you for everyone who has prayed for me. My ulcer hurts less now (either I'm numbed to the pain already, or it IS slowly subsiding).

My body was overheated. It started with mild bouts of fever around 3 weeks ago. I was on leave then, so dosages of panadol, vitamin C and sleep was self-prescribed. Then the ulcer came. The initial stage was at the lips, and my lips started cracking...everyday. It got worse hence I dropped by at the clinic behind my house. Medicine prescribed, applied, and it got better. So you saw me on that cockroach-themed Thursday, and also out on the Saturday drinking night. But last Tuesday I decided to make myself happy by indulging in one whole bar of white chocolate wafer. I was happy for 15 minutes when I was munching away, and started to suffer 5 hours later.

The ulcer slowly formed itself at the side of my tongue (somewhere around the sour and salty zones, if you still remember your science). It grew, bit by bit. By Thursday I was having some problems eating my lunch. Friday afternoon I had difficulty pronouncing certain words where the tongue gets twisted a lot. Friday night, just before WOOT, I was almost in tears.

My dad bought home this thing called watermelon frost on Fri night. It was a bit, a teeny weeny bit better on Saturday morning. I had to attend a workshop, and I dreaded the tea break, lunch break and whenever I had to start talking. The pain was bad. I was panting in between mouthfuls. KY had to do all the talking when we went out later that evening. I just nodded and smiled all the way. The salted fish for dinner didn't help. The salt was like sizzling on my tongue, right where the ulcer was.

Desperate, I went for chinese herbal tea. Heard of "wong lou kat"? It's supposed to cure sore throat, cold, flu etc etc. I took one cup of that PLUS "guilinggao". The bitterness of the drink numbed the pain for a while. It returned, but not as bad.

Sunday morning I woke up, drained out after the painful weekend I had. So I stayed at home and did some house-cleaning. Today it's getting better. I could talk for 3 hours (requirements of my work), but I'm still being very careful not to hurt it. Meals still hurt a bit, but not as bad.

Whoever that has posted that thing about Friends (after my post), I'm not saying that friends can be replaced. Nobody can replace the four great friends whom I have met. I can never share the deepest secret I have with anyone but my childhood friend since standard 1 (the girl who came to church with me once).

Sometimes we don't get to "keep" them, for one reason or another. We meet new people along the way; we either add to the list or there's a debit and credit kind of thing. Whatever it is, I believe that people come into our lives for a reason. They are not merely passers-by. You miss out on a lot of things if you choose to look at it that way.

Now, I'm not that naive to believe that everyone is a saint. Sometimes we encounter the not-so-nice part of a relationship (friendship/family/colleagues/etc). But it's funny how perspectives can play around with your memory. If we go out with this idea that people are out to get us, somehow they do seem to be getting us.

We have to find a balance in all we do. Nobody said that life is a bed of roses. But Christ came into this world to die for us. What is the bed of roses?